Business and Social Impact

How to reap the ethical premium.

Society’s expectations for businesses have changed in recent years. Today, people want to know that companies are aligning their economic objectives with the social and environmental needs of the communities in which they do business. Progressive companies are developing integrated strategies that focus on social impact, and in doing so, create new opportunities.

Companies that tailor their business models to address the social and ecological interests of customers will be rewarded for doing the right thing from a community perspective. At the same time, they can also see increases in prices and market share that can be thought of as an “ethical premium.” Social impact is also about seeing the value of taking private-sector approaches to social challenges. For example, donors are demanding greater transparency and accountability. Borrowing from the private sector, nonprofits can calculate a social return on investments as an indication of their impact.

In this video interview, Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Grameen Bank and Yunus Social Business, talks about the power of social business, a way companies can apply their enterprises to solve human problems.

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Three Ways to Enhance the Impact of Nonprofits

Successful nonprofits are turning to proven business strategies.

Here are three ways forward-looking nonprofits are enhancing their impact:

Measuring outcomes, impact, and value creation brings much-needed clarity. Impact measurement turns the lights on so that both donors and government agencies can funnel money and resources to the organizations that are most effective, and they can hold accountable those who are less effective.

Scale can magnify the impact of effective nonprofits. Nonprofits with exceptional outcomes should be identified and expanded so that their impact can be magnified.

Collaboration can drive more rapid growth. The contacts, capital, and management skills of a broad coalition of supporters are required to push high-impact organizations to the next level.

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